As soon as it launched, the Pentax 17 – the first new high-end film camera from a major manufacturer not named Leica in years – sold out in minutes. In fact, it has spent most of 2024 on backorder.
However, after suffering a drop-off in sales over the summer, the company says "it is still too early to say if the product will be a long-term success or if it will have a successor."
It's no secret that film photography has seen a rampant resurgence in popularity in recent years – so much so that the price of Kodak film shot up 40% last year, as the market struggled to keep up with the immense demand.
Of course, the best film cameras for serious use (with the exception of the resurrected Leica M6, which was brought out of mothballs in 2022) are all second-hand. So there was a pretty open lane for Pentax to drive a new product down.
Hence the Pentax 17 was launched, after much anticipation, back in June, after the manufacturer devoted a lot of time and resources into tooling up both machinery and personnel – including reaching old to old engineers from the days when film cameras were in full production.
The response – and appetite – was ravenous, with instant sellouts and backorders that continue to this day. However, it seems that things have cooled off drastically since then.
"We launched the product in June, and it started off very promising," Yazid Belmadi, sales manager for Ricoh France and Switzerland, told Phototrend. "Then the summer holidays and back-to-school season slowed the momentum, and we saw a decline in late summer.
Currently, we are waiting to see if demand will pick up again, but it is still too early to say if the product will be a long-term success or if it will have a successor."
He referred to the Pentax 17 as a "flagship product", which is the first time I've heard anyone from the company call it such. That certainly tells you how the manufacturer regards this camera – but Belmadi's comments are a sober reminder of the reality of bringing such a radical product to market, given how small Pentax is.
While noting that the company is enjoying its fourth year in the black, he added that "in terms of overall volume, we are quite far behind the other manufacturers."
The secret to the company's success is simple: "We are profitable because we have niche products that stand out in their sector… We have also been able to make the right savings, whether in human resources, R&D or manufacturing."
The Pentax 17, then, clearly has to be able to wash its own face. A lot of money was sunk into its development, and that will have to be recouped before a successor becomes a reality.
Then again, this is the same company that makes five different variants of the Ricoh GR III – so I can certainly see it making something like a Pentax 17x, with a slightly modified lens, to release a sister product with minimal extra cost.
If the best film cameras and the best 35mm film are a little too much hassle for you, maybe one of the best retro cameras is more up your street!
